A Network Interface Card (NIC) is an apparatus installed in a computer for connecting the computer to a Local Area Network (LAN). The NIC works as an interface connecting the computer and the network transmission medium to implement physical connection and electrical signal matching between the computer and the network transmission medium, and is responsible for sending and receiving data frames, encapsulating and decapsulating data frames, encoding and decoding data, buffering data, and controlling medium access.
A traditional Ethernet NIC is of single-function and runs in a simple environment. Usually, only a Media Access Control (MAC) address is programmed in the NIC in the manufacturing process. In the physical transmission process at the lower layer of the network, the host is identified by the MAC address.
When an NIC is installed, drivers for managing the NIC need to be installed in the operating system of the computer. Currently, built-in drivers for NICs of various manufacturers are generally configured in a Windows operating system. Therefore, the Ethernet NICs are generally plug-and-play.
However, a wireless data card capable of broadband wireless network communications runs in an environment which is much more complicated than the wired Ethernet NIC, and involves massive data to be configured according to the wireless network environment. Meanwhile, the wireless data card differs from the wired Ethernet NIC in that the wireless data card needs to provide device authentication and user authentication functions.
In a traditional solution, a driver Compact Disk-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) is attached to the wireless data card as control software of the wireless data card. That is, before the wireless data card works, the user needs to install the driver of the wireless data card by using the driver CD-ROM, and configure authentication information.
In the process of implementing the present invention, the inventor finds at least the following problems in the prior art: When the user replaces a computer and wants to use the wireless data card on the new computer, the user has to install the driver of the wireless data card again, which is troublesome. Moreover, the driver CD-ROM is vulnerable to loss, which brings much inconvenience to the user.